Xue Changxiong led the officers and soldiers of the Hejian camp to dispatch troops from the Hejian base. They were fully equipped with clothes and armor, sufficient food and fodder, and banners were everywhere.

Faced with such a spectacular scene of dispatching troops, Zhang Xing and Zhang Dalongtou, the leader of the gang's northward march, immediately ordered to abandon the farther and more prominent Wubao strongholds they had just occupied and to shrink the defense first.

But just two days later, as new military information arrived, he further upgraded the corresponding strategy level.

"Youzhou camp has sent troops? How many people?" Zhang Xing was obviously surprised. "Who is the leader?"

"Eight thousand, mostly cavalry, directly followed the Hejian Army's baggage team." Even Xiong Bonan couldn't hide his tiredness, and it was obvious that he tried his best to send back the message. "The general doesn't know, but Youzhou

Luo Shu, the second lieutenant general in the camp, and Li Li, the first lieutenant general in the camp, are among them, and they are the only ones who make the final decision."

In the huge barracks, Zhang Xing said nothing, turned around, put his hands on the desk behind him, and quickly began to analyze.

The Youzhou Camp is not weaker than the Hejian Camp in terms of military power in Hebei, and can even be said to be superior to the Hejian Camp. It is an important strategic fulcrum for the Wei Dynasty to maintain the rule of Hebei, including the North... In fact, two years ago,

After the turmoil, Youzhou Camp has been firmly controlling the surrounding prefectures and counties of the Yanshan Mountains with the general governor Youzhou as the core. Its influence even extends all the way to the three counties of northern Shanxi and the two leaders and one guard of Beidi. From the controlled area, state

The number of counties and military strength are both extremely exaggerated.

In particular, Youzhou's cavalry, which is a mixture of local war horses, armor from the Central Plains, and soldiers from the North and Jin, are known as the most brave in the world. They are indispensable in every dynasty's turmoil. There are many records in history books

Under the leadership of some practitioners, the iron cavalry played a role similar to weakening the Zhenqi army formation, charging rampantly, often with miraculous effects.

However, there is a reason why Youzhou Camp is so powerful but cannot easily expand in troubled times.

The first and most core problem is that the localization forces in Youzhou Daying are quite powerful. In the past, when the authority of the imperial court was still there, it could be suppressed, but under the current situation, Li Cheng and his son, the manager of Guanlong background, cannot fully grasp this theory.

It is an integrated military group... Luo Shu is one of the representatives of the local forces, but he is only one.

The second one, which is also an important reason why Zhang Xing underestimated the enemy and became nervous after hearing the news, is that Xue Changxiong is the serious commander-in-chief of the Hebei march. From a legal point of view, he has control over the troops of the Youzhou camp.

However, the more this happened, the less likely it was that Li Cheng and his son would allow Xue Changxiong to interfere in Youzhou affairs and hand over such a huge power. And Xue Changxiong was destined not to be reconciled, and even went so far as to establish the Guanlong Benchmark in the essence of Hebei.

The same General Xue was in the Youzhou camp, but he chose to win over local forces in an attempt to overthrow the Li family and his son.

The two sides were in a quarrel.

According to Bai Yousi's account, during the previous chaos in northern Shanxi, several people, including Bai Hengqiu, the British commander of Taiyuan, Xue Changxiong, the commander-in-chief of the Hebei march in Hejian, Li Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Youzhou camp, and Wang Rengong, the prefect of Yanmen in northern Shanxi,

Local heroes from Youzhou and Jin, as well as mixed tribes from the North and the Wu Clan's territory, all fought there so that it was difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy.

Although Wang Rengong is dead now, it is impossible to change the chaotic situation in Youzhou Camp internally and externally.

Therefore, Zhang Xing once thought that Youzhou Camp would probably sit back and watch.

But they still came... Only Luo Shu and Li Li arrived together without a leader, which showed that they were not as united as they seemed, and there would still be internal strife and delay.

After thinking about this, Zhang Xing felt relieved for a moment, and then turned around and said: "This is here to fight a smooth battle. We will not fight for the Xue family. As long as we don't expose our flaws, they will be here for nothing... Of course."

, we must be very energetic to deal with it."

Hearing this, some people nodded in conviction, while others looked embarrassed. Obviously, a tough battle of this scale and the reputation of the Youzhou Cavalry still made people feel guilty.

"The problem is that since the official army has such a large cavalry formation, there are more tactics available. Even if they are not willing to ask Xue Changxiong to sacrifice their lives, we must change our response strategy." Cheng Zhili thought for a moment and said seriously.

remind.

"This is natural." Zhang Xing replied calmly, as if nothing had happened. "Send my military order to throw away all the external strongholds including Leling, and the entire army retreats between Ban County and Pingchang County, holding the city from both sides.

, backed by Douzigang for defense... It is necessary to raise a large base. The distance between Banxian and Pingchang is only more than thirty miles. A dense defense line can be built to form a continuous line... In addition, let all the peripheral soldiers

When the horses retreated, they destroyed roads and smashed bridges along the way. As far as the officers and soldiers were concerned, the so-called fighter planes were only a mere ten days before and after the Lingshui period. A delay of one day would have a great effect."

There was silence in the barracks, with only the clerical officers and clerks taking notes. However, these seemingly well-prepared words had already made some of the previously nervous people look more relaxed.

"Longtou." At this moment, Jia Runshi hesitated and spoke. "I used to be in charge of Wang Yi (General Staff)'s Western Front Clerk. After everyone calculated it, we all felt that we should be careful about the west... the west

There may be reinforcements from the government and the army, and they are elite and capable reinforcements, estimated to number tens of thousands of people."

Dou Lide thought for a while and asked seriously: "Chief Xiao Jia, are you talking about the soldiers of Wu'an County?"

"No." Xiao Jia panicked inexplicably. "I really didn't think about that. We wanted to say that after our army crossed the river last year, the Eastern Capital sent Qu Tuda and an army of 10,000 to cross the river and set up station at the ferry of Jijun...

It's just that we won too quickly and they didn't come. This army probably didn't return to the east capital. At this time, it received an invitation from Hejian, so it's unlikely that they will come... Isn't Li Taishou of Wu'an County a close friend of the leader? He wants to come to fight us too?

"

When everyone heard this, they became even more panicked.

"Qu Tuda is almost bound to come." Zhang Xing thought for a while, but he was honest. "Cao Lin will not miss this opportunity, and even Wu'an County may not be able to withstand the pressure and send troops... In addition to this,

, Cao Shancheng of Qinghe County is even more die-hard. He tried to persuade him to surrender many times before and tried to persuade him to surrender, but there was no response. This time he will definitely send troops to help, and he will most likely try to integrate possible reinforcements on the western front in advance. Let's cross the river that day.

The final march route will be towards Ban County to deliver a powerful blow."

Many people turned pale.

"But it doesn't matter. Since we have guessed it, we have a way to deal with him." Zhang Xing said with a smile. "When Qu Tuda passes by, let Niu Da send troops from Chanyuan and attack Jijun from behind. Jijun is the key point, Qutuda

He must turn back; as for Li Ding, he is already far away. As long as he delays sending troops for a few days, he will miss the possible battle. I will send another letter to ask him to delay it a little; without these two

To build a strong army, Cao Shancheng only led one county soldier, and he could not fight alone. He could only rely on the Xue family and his son. Let us leave some countermeasures to describe that he and Qian Tang hated the Xue family and his son because of Zhang Shiyu's incident.

Sometimes they will have bad feelings."

Everyone's expressions changed again, and they all praised Zhang Longtou for his proper arrangement, and while talking and laughing, they retreated from the tens of thousands of troops out of thin air.

However, some leaders still had doubts.

Without him, there is nothing much to say about the big leader's response to itself, but the question is, how can this be considered retreating tens of thousands of troops out of thin air?

Niuda had an unexpected Duizi. Without Qu Tuda, Niuda could have been a surprise force. Those who attacked behind him would be gone now... And the Youzhou camp cavalry mentioned before

, Zhang Dalongtou said not to take it to heart, but in fact he was forced to make the most conservative response and give up a winter's victory.

As for Cao Shancheng leading troops to join Xue Changxiong's team, isn't that considered helpless to you?

There is also Li Ding. Originally, everyone thought that if he communicated with you privately, he would definitely not come, okay? But in the end, he might come? What kind of thing is this?

"That's the thing. Leaders, if you have any good strategies to defeat the enemy, you might as well talk to them face to face." Zhang Xing didn't seem to notice the expressions on the faces of those people. He just urged to pass the order while asking for military advice.

Of course, the gang was more open-minded and talked a lot, but nine times out of ten they still stayed at the Ban County camp to fight back.

Of course, there are also some strange strategies and arguments.

"Can we send someone to pretend to surrender?" the leader Zhai Qian asked out of curiosity, but he couldn't help but look at Dou Lide and the others.

Dou Lide immediately smiled bitterly: "Leader Zhai is overthinking. Xue Changxiong sent troops this time just for the battle last winter. His slogan was to avenge Zhang Shiyu. If anyone pretends to surrender at this time... don't

If you say you're pretending to surrender, even if you're really surrendering, I'm afraid you'll be captured in person and beheaded in public."

Zhai Qian came to his senses: "This saves trouble. You don't have to worry about anyone defecting to the enemy."

Everyone laughed.

But when the laughter stopped, Dou Lide became solemn again, glanced at many people in the barracks, and then declared boldly: "The Hebei Rebels are at odds with Xue Changxiong and others! Although they cannot pretend to surrender, they are willing to be the vanguard and fight to the death in the face of war.

A battle!”

Hao Yide, Fan Yuan and other leaders immediately followed, and Gao Shitong, Sun Xunzhi, Zhuge Dewei and others also expressed their stance.

The other leaders of the Eastern Territory also became more awe-inspiring.

However, after the atmosphere was slightly calmed down, there was not much useful content in the subsequent discussion... To put it bluntly, when the army was being organized in Banxian Camp, the "Wang Yi", that is, the staff officer, although it was a copycat, but the matter was

For those things, several people are responsible for considering the weather, several people are responsible for considering the geographical environment, and several people are responsible for calculating the surrounding enemy and friendly situations. It is impossible to say that there are too obvious omissions.

Going back to the present situation, the most disadvantageous thing for the military under the current situation is that during the freezing floods, the weather is getting warmer, and during the period from thin ice to melting ice, the north and south of the river are basically completely isolated from a military point of view.

Of course, the officers and soldiers also have to pay the price for the timing of sending troops at this time. The roads are muddy and the troops come from a long distance. Logistics will be very difficult and the soldiers will be very hard.

In fact, it is difficult to say that the two sides can determine the absolute advantages and disadvantages based on the right time and place.

In the end, the meeting naturally ended with Zhang Dalongtou's remarks like "Justice is mine, our army is united, and the officers and soldiers may seem strong, but they are actually constraining each other, so in the end justice must prevail."

"Is the leader really confident?"

The leaders dispersed, and Zhang Xing left the huge and crowded barracks. There were only a few confidants and a few core members of the gang who had crossed the river. At this time, the chief Wei Xuanding, who had been silent before, finally asked

Got that sentence.

"Let's not hide it from Wei Gong." Zhang Xing was sincere at this time. "I don't have much hope for this battle. After all, they are attacking, and they have more troops than we thought. The Wei imperial court does still have some calls.

Our strength can allow them to maintain a united front as much as possible to push them over. But on the other hand, if we don't make mistakes, we just stick together as a group, defend honestly, and the soldiers come to cover up the water and the earth, we don't know how much advantage the other side can take.

... My original intention is to hold on to the cold flood season steadily. When the weather gets hot, the officers and soldiers will inevitably retreat. Taking advantage of the situation to achieve victory is... It doesn't matter even if we can't achieve victory, because the officers and soldiers will only become weaker day by day, and Youzhou will be defeated.

Camp, Hejian Camp, Taiyuan, and Dongdu will only become more distant from each other day by day. Time is with us."

Wei Xuanding nodded: "That's the truth. Avoid fighting and be cautious. This is also the result of everyone's discussion before."

Several big bosses and Zhang Sanlang's confidants around him felt relieved when they heard this conversation.

"But..." Wang Shuyong thought for a moment and was really puzzled. "Does Xue Changxiong really think he can win this time?"

"If he didn't think he could win, why would he come to fight us?" Shan Tonghai sneered. "But what's the use? Back then, the emperor thought he could defeat Dongyi! In the end, he lost three times."

Everyone suddenly realized, and the atmosphere became more relaxed.

Not to mention that Zhang Xing saw the Hejian army rushing down the mountain like tigers and made up his mind to avoid the battle. On the other side, in Wu'an County, Li Ding also received the relevant military documents and read them for a long time, but he just withered after the case.

Sitting there, no response.

"Master..." Su Jingfang, who had brought the letter in, seemed to have never hesitated and asked directly from the side. "Master said before that Mr. Zhang will definitely be defeated in Hebei. Is this the case?"
To be continued...